* FTSEurofirst 300 down 0.6 percent
* Banking stocks retreat after Lehman losses
* Oils mixed, miners slip
By Brian Gorman
LONDON, Sept 10 (Reuters) - European shares closed lower on
Wednesday, as banks suffered on concerns about the financial
sector's health and after Lehman Brothers <LEH.N> posted a
record quarterly loss of about $4 billion.
The FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top European shares
fell 0.64 percent to 1,148.23 points after falling more than 1
percent earlier in the day. The pan-European index is down about
24 percent so far this year.
Lehman said it planned to sell a majority stake in its
investment management division and spin off commercial real
estate assets as the struggling U.S. investment bank fought to
raise capital. []
Banks were the top negative weight on the European index,
with Natixis <CNAT.PA> falling 6 percent, Credit Agricole
<CAGR.PA> losing 4.8 percent, Dexia <DEXI.BR> down 4.2 percent,
Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L> dropping 3.6 percent, Barclays
<BARC.L> slipping 5.3 percent and UBS <UBSN.VX> shedding more
than 4 percent.
"There's no direct link between Lehman's problems and
Europe, but this is the normal financial reaction," said
Christophe, strategist at Paris-based Kepler Equities.
"It's more bad news. It shows that the fall-out from the
credit crunch is far from over."
Concerns about the financial sector's health continued.
Credit Agricole, France's biggest retail bank, said it would cut
500 jobs at Calyon, its investment banking unit that has been
badly hit by the global credit crunch.
European economic growth, hit by high commodity prices,
financial market turmoil and the end of a decade-long housing
boom, has slowed sharply and continues to do so, the European
Commission said. []
"Nothing about the configuration of the economy has changed.
We still have to face a sluggish environment," Donay said,
referring to the U.S. and European economies.
In industry news, Deutsche Bank <DBKGn.DE> was close to
clinching a stake in rival Deutsche Postbank <DPBGn.DE> in a
deal that could come later this week, sources with direct
knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday. []
Postbank was up 4.1 percent, while Deutsche Bank fell 1.7
percent.
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE <> fell 0.9 percent,
Germany's DAX <> was down 0.4 percent and France's CAC
<> dropped 0.2 percent.
MINERS SLIP, OILS MIXED
Miners also suffered on concerns about lower demand for
metals. BHP Billiton <BLT.L>, Anglo American <AAL.L>, Vedanta
Resources <VED.L>, Lonmin <LMI.L>, Kazakhmys <KAZ.L>, Xstrata
<XTA.L>, Antofagasta <ANTO.L> and Rio Tinto <RIO.L> fell between
0.3 and 8.8 percent.
Oil stocks were mixed, having tracked volatile oil prices
during the session. Crude oil <CLc1> was last down 0.4 percent.
BP <BP.L> closed 1 percent lower, while StatoilHydro
<STL.OL> was 2.3 percent higher after Sanford Bernstein
reiterated its overweight stance on the company. Total <TOTF.PA>
was up 0.3 percent.
Among other stocks, French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis
<SASY.PA> rose 7.2 percent to top the gainers list, after the
company named GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L> executive Chris Viehbacher
as its new chief executive officer.
GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L> rose nearly 2 percent. The company
was paying as much as $1.5 billion to develop new drugs against
inflammatory disease with Anglo-German biotech company Cellzome,
the two groups said.
Novartis <NOVN.VX>, a peer, was up 1.4 percent.
Finnish paper company Stora Enso <STERV.HE> was the
second-biggest gainer on the index, rising 5.7 percent, after it
announced plans to cut 1,700 jobs and said it would take a
writedown of about 280 million euros as it tries to cope with a
planned increase in Russian wood duties and an ailing market.
(Editing by Richard Hubbard)
